Beleaguered bikers: 18 of B.C.'s 100 full-patch members have either been charged or convicted of crimes (with video)

KIM BOLAN, VANCOUVER SUN02.06.2014

Eighteen of 100 full-patch B.C. Hells Angels members have either been charged or convicted of crimes.Special to The Sun
/ The Vancouver Sun

Two full-patch Hells Angels have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the brutal hammer and baseball bat attack that left Kelowna dad Dain Phillips dead. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed down the sentence to Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas Wednesday. Accused son and father killers Norm Cocks, 31, and Robert Cocks, 52, are featured in this photo.Handout
/ Special to the Sun

Robert Leonard Thomas, 49, a full-patch member of the Kelowna Hells Angels. Two full-patch Hells Angels have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the brutal hammer and baseball bat attack that left Kelowna dad Dain Phillips dead. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed down the sentence to Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas Wednesday .PNG
/ Files

Dain Phillips of Kelowna was fatally beaten with hammers and baseball bats on June 12. Two full-patch Hells Angels have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the brutal hammer and baseball bat attack that left Kelowna dad Dain Phillips dead. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed down the sentence to Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas WednesdayVancouver Sun Files
/ Handout

Accused father and son killers Norm Cocks, 31, and Robert Cocks, 52, are featured in this photo. Two full-patch Hells Angels have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the brutal hammer and baseball bat attack that left Kelowna dad Dain Phillips dead. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed down the sentence to Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas Wednesday.
/ Vancouver Sun

Robert Thomas, shown here, with the Kelowna chapter of the biker gang, pleaded guilty to manslaughter today before Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen. Two full-patch Hells Angels have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the brutal hammer and baseball bat attack that left Kelowna dad Dain Phillips dead. Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed down the sentence to Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas Wednesday.Handout
/ RCMP

Dain Phillips of Kelowna was fatally beaten with hammers and baseball bats on June 12.Vancouver Sun Files
/ Handout

LISING, Ronaldo Maticus
Age: 51
Chapter: Nomads
Convicted: Possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking, contempt of court and possession of restricted firearms and ammunition. On parole.Special to The Sun
/ Vancouver Sun

Related

The conviction of two full-patch Hells Angels for killing a Kelowna dad means almost one in five members of the B.C. biker gang has been charged or convicted of a crime in recent years.

According to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, 18 of the Hells Angels' 100 current full-patch members in B.C. now have a criminal record or are awaiting trial on charges ranging from uttering threats to trafficking cocaine to manslaughter.

CFSEU Chief Supt. Dan Malo said Wednesday's manslaughter convictions of Hells Angels Norm Cocks and Robert Thomas, who were sentenced to 15 years, marks the first time members of the gang have been found guilty of killing someone in this province.

"Previous investigations and convictions have made it clear that members of the Hells Angels are involved in drugs, weapons, and violence-related offences," Malo said.

CFSEU Sgt. Lindsey Houghton challenged leaders of the Hells Angels to condemn Cocks and Thomas for their fatal baseball bat and hammer attack on Dain Phillips on June 12, 2011.

"Members of the Hells Angels use their association with the Hells Angels, the Hells Angels name, patches, and Hells Angels-related tattoos to intimidate, threaten, and cause fear . . . that is the currency of how they operate," Houghton said.

HA spokesman Rick Ciarniello did not respond to emailed requests for a comment about the historic convictions.

Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen handed the manslaughter sentences to Cocks, 33, and Thomas, 49, as relatives of Phillips packed a Vancouver courtroom to see the killers.

The killers have spent more than 2½ years in pre-trial custody, so have a net sentence of almost 12½ years in prison.

Cullen said the sentence, recommended jointly by Crown and defence lawyers after last week's guilty pleas, reflected the gravity of the case.

"It is clear from the facts that this is a very serious case of its kind, involving a brutal and determined attack with weapons on an unarmed man who was attempting to resolve an ongoing dispute between members of his family and others who were associated to these two accused," Cullen said.

"I accept that [Phillips's] death has left a significant, even profound, void in the lives of many people."

There was no mention of the notorious biker gang during Wednesday's sentencing, despite references to the Hells Angels at a related trial of four co-accused.

At the co-accusers' trial, on Monday, Crown prosecutor Joe Bellows said both Thomas and Cocks had threatened Phillips and his sons with the Hells Angels' name right before the fatal beating.

Outside court Wednesday, Bellows said he couldn't comment on why the Hells Angels references were missing from the submissions on sentencing.

The trial of the co-accuseds heard Monday that Thomas yelled "you want to f — k with the Hells Angels," before swinging a bat at Phillips' head and that Cocks showed his Hells Angel tattoo to Phillips' son before punching the young man in the head.

Bellows said the slaying of Phillips stemmed from "a number of petty disputes" between Phillips' sons and brothers Daniel and Matthew McRae, who are among the co-accusers in the death.

Bellows read a victim impact statement from Phillips' widow Jeannie, in which she described the despair of her entire family over the loss of Dain, a 51-year-old former semi-pro hockey player.

She said her two youngest sons will never be able to shake the memories of watching their father beaten to death.

"The actual images ingrained in the memories of Kaylin and Kody, who did witness this horrible reality, will continue to haunt them randomly and involuntarily for as long as they live," she said.

"It is impossible to avoid wondering daily what we could have done differently to arrive at a different outcome. But who could imagine what Norm Cocks and Robert Thomas did."

She said while the two bikers will get parole, "we are sentenced to life, life without Dain Phillips."

Neither Cocks nor Thomas accepted Cullen's offer to address the court. There was no apology, though Cocks' lawyer Joe Doyle said his client felt remorse.

Both bikers were originally charged with second-degree murder, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge.

The manslaughter trial continues for the co-accuseds — the McRae brothers, Anson Schell and Cocks' father Robert, who was in court Wednesday as his son was sentenced.

At Wednesday's sentencing, Bellows told the court that Cocks had gotten Thomas and the others involved in the attack because of his close friendship with Daniel McRae.

There were two earlier encounters on June 12 — one where McRae and Cocks saw Kaylin Phillips at a recycling centre and Cocks showed him the tattoo and hit him.

After Kaylin told his dad what happened, Phillips and his two sons went over to the McRae house and saw Cocks leaving with Daniel. The concerned dad chased Cocks' truck up the street, as the biker drove in reverse.

Later that day, Daniel McRae called the Phillips brothers to arrange a meeting on McCurdy Road, purportedly to resolve the dispute. The two bikers and several others met the Phillips and their dad at about 6:40 p.m.

As Dain Phillips stood with his hands in surrender, Thomas struck him in the head with a baseball bat. Cocks joined in with his weapon, until Phillips collapsed on the side of the road.

His widow Jeannie described her desperate attempts to reach her husband, who she had urged not to go to the meeting.

"I will never forget the frantic calls I made to Dain that went unanswered as he was lying beaten, lifeless on the road," she said.

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Beleaguered bikers: 18 of B.C.'s 100 full-patch members have either been charged or convicted of crimes (with video)

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